How to treat a sprained elbow – David Aardsma

David Aardsma is the closer for the Seattle Mariners. He was coming back from a hip injury and making a stop in the minors for a rehab assignment. When there, he felt tightness in his forearm, it never got better, he had an MRI and now he’s looking at surgery due to a sprained elbow.

Baseball injuries are so darn freaky.

You have to really feel for Aardsma in that he was so close to coming back.

What is a sprained elbow? In most cases a sprained elbow relates to the muscles connected to the elbow. In Aardsma’s case we know it’s the muscles in the forearm. Which one? I have no idea. There are about 20 muscles in the forearm that are either superficial (close to the skin) or deep (buried in the forearm).

How do you know if you have a sprained elbow? You will feel tightness when you open and close your elbow joint. You can do this by imitating a curling action with your arm that engages the elbow joint. Based on where you feel the tightness you’ll know whether it is an upper arm or forearm muscle.

How do you treat a sprained elbow? Rest, icing and over the counter inflammatory medication works for most of us. If you have actually torn a muscle then you’re going to need surgery if the tear is bad.

How long does it take to come back from a sprained elbow? It always depends on severity, but it should be less than two weeks. Remember, you need to keep the join active, but don’t put a 100% load on it.

Here is David pitching in slow motion. Notice the stress on his forearm: